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Digest of Education Statistics
2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 481. Collections, staff, and operating expenditures of degree-granting institution libraries: Selected years, 1981-82 through 2009-10
Collections, staff, and operating expenditures 1981-82 1987-88 1991-92 1997-98 2001-02 2003-04 2005-06 2007-08 2009-10
Total Public Private nonprofit Private
for-profit
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Number of libraries 3,104   3,438 3,274 3,658 3,568 3,653 3,617 3,827 3,689 1,559 1,449 681
Percentage of institutions with libraries   90.0 85.0 86.2 84.6 87.9 82.1 93.2 89.2 56.8
Number of circulation transactions (in thousands)   216,067 189,248 200,204 187,236 178,766 176,736 116,084 58,660 1,992
Number of circulation transactions per full-time-                          
equivalent (FTE) student   20 16 16 14 13 11 11 18 1
                           
Enrollment (in thousands)                          
Total enrollment1 12,372   12,767 14,359 14,502 15,928 16,911 17,487 18,248 20,428 14,811 3,765 1,852
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment1 9,015   9,230 10,361 10,615 11,766 12,688 13,201 13,783 15,496 10,750 3,178 1,568
                           
Collections (in thousands)                          
Number of volumes at end of year 567,826   718,504 749,429 878,906 954,030 982,590 1,015,658 1,052,531 1,076,027 654,865 416,144 5,019
Number of volumes added during year 19,507   21,907 20,982 24,551 24,574 24,615 22,241 23,990 27,164 15,249 11,419 495
Number of serial subscriptions at end of year2 4,890   6,416 6,966 10,908 9,855 12,764 16,361 25,342 25,041 13,714 10,869 459
Microform units at end of year   1,062,082 1,143,678 1,173,287 1,166,295 1,157,365 1,124,941 768,270 355,326 1,344
E-books at end of year   10,318 32,775 64,366 102,502 158,652 91,552 61,554 5,546
Number of volumes per full-time-equivalent (FTE)                          
student 63   78 72 83 81 77 77 76 69 61 131 3
                           
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) library staff                          
Total staff in regular positions3 58,476   67,251 67,166 68,337 69,526 69,047 69,615 69,328 66,562 40,907 24,092 1,563
Librarians and professional staff 23,816   25,115 26,341 30,041 32,053 32,280 33,265 34,520 34,147 19,706 13,166 1,274
Other paid staff 34,660   40,733 40,421 38,026 37,473 36,767 36,350 34,808 32,415 21,201 10,925 289
Contributed services   1,403 404 270
Student assistants   33,821 29,075 28,373 25,305 25,038 23,976 24,110 22,382 12,700 9,017 665
FTE student enrollment per FTE staff member 154   137 154 155 169 184 190 199 233 263 132 1,003
                           
Library operating expenditures4                           
Total operating expenditures (in thousands                          
of current dollars) $1,943,769   $2,770,075 $3,648,654 $4,592,657 $5,416,716 $5,751,247 $6,234,192 $6,785,542 $6,829,108 $4,019,666 $2,697,599 $111,843
Salaries and wages 914,379 5 1,451,551 1,889,368 2,314,380 2,753,404 2,913,221 3,102,561 3,342,082 3,401,649 2,055,389 1,280,579 65,681
Student hourly wages 100,847   (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6)
Fringe benefits 167,515  
Preservation 30,351   34,144 43,126 42,919 46,499 42,976 41,102 41,591 31,212 17,436 13,682 94
Furniture/equipment   57,013
Computer hardware/software   164,379 155,791 143,042 153,002 158,698 142,652 92,073 48,684 1,894
Bibliographic utilities/networks/consortia   89,618 92,242 101,293 106,268 113,427 117,838 67,772 49,028 1,037
Information resources7 561,199   891,281 1,197,293 1,600,995 1,944,490 2,114,555 2,334,382 2,621,491 2,649,086 1,514,816 1,094,136 40,135
Books and serial backfiles—paper   514,048 563,007 550,599 572,228 611,192 515,942 277,021 229,619 9,301
Books and serial backfiles—electronic   28,061 44,792 65,597 93,778 133,586 152,359 87,571 60,255 4,533
Current serials—paper   849,399 926,105 883,534 830,137 699,906 536,357 296,777 232,210 7,370
Current serials—electronic   125,470 297,657 480,138 691,585 1,004,393 1,249,726 760,412 474,194 15,121
Audiovisual materials   23,879 30,623 37,041 35,216 39,029 43,849 55,659 23,165 30,145 2,350
Document delivery/interlibrary loan   19,309 22,913 24,823 26,513 30,496 33,679 20,679 11,953 1,047
Other collection expenditures 561,199   891,281 1,173,414 34,086 52,976 74,648 81,113 98,069 105,364 49,191 55,760 413
Other library operating expenditures 169,478   393,099 518,867 323,354 424,290 436,160 496,877 508,253 486,672 272,179 211,491 3,002
                           
Operating expenditures per full-time-equivalent
(FTE) student
                         
In current dollars 216   300 352 433 460 453 472 492 441 374 849 71
In constant 2011-12 dollars8 521   590 580 609 588 554 540 529 463 393 891 75
Information resource expenditures per FTE student                          
In current dollars 62   97 116 151 165 167 177 190 171 141 344 26
In constant 2011-12 dollars8 151   190 190 212 211 204 202 204 179 148 362 27
                           
Operating expenditures (percentage distribution) 100.0   100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Salaries and wages 47.0   52.4 51.8 50.4 50.8 50.7 49.8 49.3 49.8 51.1 47.5 58.7
Student hourly wages 5.2   (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6)
Fringe benefits 8.6  
Preservation 1.6   1.2 1.2 0.9 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.1
Information resources 28.9   32.2 32.8 34.9 35.9 36.8 37.4 38.6 38.8 37.7 40.6 35.9
Other9 8.7   14.2 14.2 13.8 12.4 11.8 12.1 11.5 10.9 10.7 11.5 5.3
                           
Library operating expenditures as a percent of                          
total institutional expenditures for                          
educational and general purposes 3.5   3.2 3.0
—Not available.
1 Fall enrollment for the academic year specified.
2 For 1997-98 and later years, includes microform and electronic serials.
3 Excludes student assistants.
4 Excludes capital outlay.
5 Includes salary equivalents of contributed services staff.
6 Included under salaries and wages.
7 Includes resources not listed.
8 Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index, prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis.
9 Includes furniture/equipment, computer hardware/software, and bibliographic utilities/networks/consortia as well as expenditures classified as "other library operating expenditures."
NOTE: Data through 1995 are for institutions of higher education, while later data are for degree-granting institutions. Degree-granting institutions grant associate’s or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. The degree-granting classification is very similar to the earlier higher education classification, but it includes more 2-year colleges and excludes a few higher education institutions that did not grant degrees. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Library Statistics of Colleges and Universities, 1981-82; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Academic Libraries Survey" (IPEDS-L:88-98), "Fall Enrollment Survey" (IPEDS-EF:87-98), and IPEDS Spring 2002 through Spring 2010, Enrollment component; Academic Libraries Survey (ALS), 2000 through 2010; and Academic Libraries: 2010 (NCES 2012-365). (This table was prepared November 2012.)

2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest